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Strategies & Market Trends : Graham and Doddsville -- Value Investing In The New Era -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (1449)	3/12/1999 10:10:00 AM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

U.S. Inventories Edge Up In January WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. businesses added to their stocks of goods on hand in January, with retailers in particular building inventories in anticipation of strong shopping, the government said Friday. Total business inventories increased 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted $1.088 trillion in January, reversing a 0.1 percent decrease in December. But overall sales were down for the first time in five months. The report reflected booming U.S. consumer demand as retailers recorded strong sales and inventory building. The reverse was true for both wholesalers and manufacturers, whose January sales and inventories each were lower than in December. Retailers, enjoying robust sales, boosted their goods on hand during January by 0.8 percent to $336.30 billion after a 0.7 percent rise in December. Retail sales increased 1 percent to $234.35 billion after a 1.1 percent December surge. Total sales by all levels of businesses -- retail, wholesale and manufacturing -- were down in January by 0.3 percent to $791.09 billion after a 1 percent jump in December. It was the first decline in total monthly business sales since a 0.2 percent fall in August last year and was the biggest monthly drop since a 0.5 percent dip in August 1997. Manufacturers' inventories fell in January by 0.3 percent to $465.57 billion after a 0.9 percent December fall. Sales by manufacturing companies declined 0.8 percent to $341.46 billion after a 0.8 percent gain in December. Wholesalers' stocks of goods on hand decreased by 0.2 percent to $286.26 billion after a 0.4 percent rise in December. Sales by wholesalers fell 1 percent in January to $215.29 billion after a 1.2 percent climb in December. Despite the falloff in sales, the inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures how long it would take to deplete stocks at the current monthly sales pace, remained healthy at a slightly higher 1.38 months' worth in January. That was up from 1.37 months' worth in December.